S60 Open to new features

Actually, iPod is easier than that, at least if you use iTunes as your music library/player. You just connect the iPod to the computer and it does everything by itself.

The search feature is good, but would be better if it recognised a word within the song title, not just beginning with. I'm thinking of all those songs that begin with 'The'.

...and I can't see me ever swapping my iPod for an N91! :)

Agree with Svante too that iTunes does everything automatically.

Actually the search feature does just that. I typed "The" to the search field and the beginning of the list of hits I got was:

3 the hard way
A rush of blood to the head
A song for the dead
A song for the deaf...

I am all for a converged mobile device that functions as a PDA, phone, inet device, music player, etc. However, to dislodge iPod as the number 1 music device is going to take a considerable amount of money and hard work.

One USP of the iPod many have missed are the number of 3rd party accessories available; stuff like iTrip, the Nike iPod shoe, the hundreds of bases avaible. What is available for the N91 besides headphones? Nothing.

Of course the search by typing feature is something of a bonus for the N91.

BTW, I am an iPod hater (I think it is over hyped) and one of our other Directors is an iPod freak, you can imagine the arguments at the work place ;-)

Boom

Antti,

I've just noticed the screenshot above and it clearly shows the search feature working as you described! I should read more carefully! :)

Nik

I haven't used iPod personally, but I have used Creative's Zen before (one of iPod competitors).

Now I use mostly my mobile phone to play MP3. It is simply easier for me to bring one device only.

One more thing, synchronization with WM Player works just great (try it with WMP 11 Beta).

Pretty old debate, this one. I'm more interested seeing the same thing about portable video players (ie. is S60 good enough).

It's a bit hard to compare an iPod with never having used one, But I have had one (40GB colour) for a while and its usability is miles ahead of the current N series.

Once I have my music in iTunes (which is basically a 1 step process) I can just dock the iPod and wait. There is no clicking anything, no refreshing, nothing. The only button I have to press is to remove the iPod from the dock. And of course the difference between the iPod GUI and the music play app in the phones is another subject. But then I guess the question isn't "is it as good as an iPod", but whether it is "good enough".

But I have issues with the PIM apps in S60 as well. My Palm IIIe from 1999 still does the PIM apps better than the latest S60 phone.

Like you said Jody, it's not about whether or not the N91 is better than iPod when it comes to music. Most probably it is not. But if I don't want to carry many devices and still want to listen to music while on the move - N91 does the trick for me.

I fully understand that people with an iPod will not put it down and switch to N91. But on the other hand, having an N91 definitely removes my need for an iPod ;-) All a matter of taste really, but I feel the music experience in N91 is far better than what it used to be in 2nd edition devices.

If you think of a consumer buying a new phone and learning that it has an easy-to-use music player, the chances that he will buy a separate music player are fairly slim.

P.S. One added "bonus" feature in the N91 is the synthetized voice tag (i.e. sci-fi sounding man saying the name of the caller). Handy when jogging or cycling with the N91 tucked firmly in my pocket.

About the automatic syncing that works with iPod/iTunes, the same thing is possible with N91 (or some other MTP enabled music phone, such as 3250, N71 etcetc.) and WMP10/11. There is some settings to be made at both ends, but once it's done everything happens automatically ie. music library is synced to phone. With WMP11 there are even more options: like shuffled syncing, syncing both ways etc. The problem is that people don't know about this, and like Antti said he didn't even got it working.. Maybe I should write a post and show it once again step-by-step.

Try this link to find out how to synchronize some S60 phones (like N80, N91) with WMP: http://www.s60tips.com/2006/06/15/synchronizing-mp3-with-windows-media-player/.

Why do I still have an MP3 player (from Creative) and a S60 mobile phone (sorry, I still call it a phone;) separately? There are several reasons:

* MP3 players offer at least twice better battery life. Yes, I've tested with for example iPod nano and Nokia N91) than smartphones with music players.
* I don't want my mobile phone to drain out of battery because I'm listening to music. I need my phone for the whole day, often out of office and travelling.
* Decent MP3 player plus a S60 phone cost less than for example Nokia N91 or Samsung SGH-i300 (both "music smartphones").
* Nokia N91 is big and heavy compared to even many S60 smartphones, the difference is even larger when compared to basic mobile phones.
* Downloading music over UMTS or WLAN is usually too expensive anyway. Flat fee or free access is still rarely available. And once again, it drains out the battery in an instant.

However, I don't want to say Nokia N91 is a bad device. It's just too expensive and too late. N91 with better battery life, half the size, weight and price of the current model could be a totally another thing.

The remaining problem would still be battery life. I don't understand why no major innovations seem to have been done in this area for years, or at least these innovations aren't significant enough for all the new features (still and video cameras, 3G and WLAN access, higher resolution screens, hard drives, etc) vendors (especially Nokia) are pushing to these terminals.

You ask, so answers you get:

1) Battery run time. Those Nokias run out of battery fast even if you do NOT use the mp3 listening features. My Sony mp3 flash player runs 40 hours on single charge. I'd hate to have my phone run out of battery, just because I listened to a few mp3s.

2) Sound quality. Have you ever tried comparing them with low-impedance high quality headphones (like Etys)? There's no comparison.

3) Usability. Phone makers need to go back to basics on this one. Nuff said about that.

4) Codec support. Good players play AAC/(he-v2)/mp3/flac/ogg/mpc. What does a phone play? mp3 and/or aac.

5) Size. Sometimes you want to take ONLY the mp3 player with you. Then the size of a small 2-4GB flash player is hard to beat. Joggin/gym is a good example.

6) Price. A good sound quality, 40hours/charge, nice/small Sony 2GB flash player costs 99-150euros. It leaves plenty of money to buy a decent basic 3G phone WITHOUT a built-in crappy mp3 player.

7) Swiss knife

cont... (moronically coded blog filter destroyed the post).

7) Swiss knife =! dedicated tools. Some of us just are dedicated tools kind of guys. Swiss knife will never do anything better than a separate screwdriver, saw & sciccors. The same applies to multimedia phones and mp3 players and digital cameras. Sure, them phones can be nice emergency fail-overs, when you have nothing else around, but for normal day-to-day use why compromise when you can have the best?

Why no album art is displayed from mp3 files in the Nokia Music Player?

The Nokia Music Player supports album art, but I don't normally use them.

You can change the album art by opening an album in the Music Player, and then selecting "Options" and then "Album art". After that you either have the album art available that you have transferred to your N91 or you can pick one from the Gallery (select "Options" and then "Change").

battery life is definitely problem for music on the phone.whenever i listen to mp3 on my phone.My battery goes down by evening.Why nokia is not giving higher capacity batteries with phone?.New n80 because of always on wifi battery life is not great,considering the screen off light sensor,feature,it still is not great.During this few years time,we are having multiple nice new features coming to nokia phones.but batteries are same.Why.?Improve the battery life,then music player with many hours of listening pleasure will make sense.

I don't expect many iPod users to suddenly start using music phones instead, but that's OK. I think there's plenty of room in the market for different types of music devices.

Anyway, I think the real advantage of a music phone is connectivity, which gives you access to much more music than just downloaded files - FM radio, streaming audio, and even your home music collection.

I've never used an ipod... even though they did make a pink one! I just could never bring myself to carry more than one device.
The N91 packs in everything that I need.
I found that the Album Art thing wasn't a big issue. Most of my music collection has been downloaded using iTunes and AllofMP3 so I copied the Album covers myself when I downloaded music. That way all I have to do is just send the images to the phone and select them from the gallery.

I have a separate MP3 player, a Rio Carbon.

Why?

The S60 based smartphones, such as my Nokia N70, are unsuitable for listening to eBooks.

eBooks can be 50 hours long, and may consist of 50 files, of say 60 minutes each. NONE of the MP3 players available for the S60 support bookmarks, so I can navigate back to my place in the eBook. Incredible!

Does anyone know of any MP3 player for the Symbian S60 series that supports bookmarks?

hi

The Nokia Music Player supports album art, but I don't normally use them.

You can change the album art by opening an album in the Music Player, and then selecting "Options" and then "Album art". After that you either have the album art available that you have transferred to your N91 or you can pick one from the Gallery (select "Options" and then "Change").

Option > Album Art? I couldn't find it on my N80. Are you sure that it's in the S60 v3 Music Player?
And it should read the album art from the mp3 files just like other players do.

Hi All,
What about USB transfers & N91? It's a pain! I'm using a N91 for a few weeks and I'm desesperate when adding/changing music. It's so long! More than 10 minutes for 2 albums (150mb). I used the Mass Storage profile and it's sooooo long :(
Secondly, why is it not possible to organize music also with folders :( (I know playlists exist!)
Cheers,

7) Swiss knife

...yr laptop / home PC is a swiss knife...

/M

I haven't tried to used an ipod, Well I think many people used an ipod just to say that they can afford to buy one & to buy a separate mobile for them. For me I can't afford to buy both gudget, thats why practically I purchased N91 for my all in one need on the box.

ALON MP3 Dictaphone supports at least bookmarking of your last active place, that is, when you switch off the player it can continue from where you switched it off the next time you start it. They also say they will improve bookmarks support, but I don't know when yet.

ALON MP3 Dictaphone supports at least bookmarking of your last active place, that is, when you switch off the player it can continue from where you switched it off the next time you start it. They also say they will improve bookmarks support, but I don't know when yet.